Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between attractiveness of athlete endorsers, match-up, and consumers' purchase intention embedded in the China context. Design/methodology/approach - The authors used a 3×2×2 between-subject experimental design. Specifically, in this 12-scenario study depicting a purchase experience they manipulated endorser attractiveness levels (high/middle/low), endorser-product match-up (high/low), and product type (to prevent single product bias). Findings - The results showed that no matter whether the attractiveness is high, middle, or low, the high endorser-product match-up could produce higher purchase intention than the low endorser-product match-up could. Moreover, the purchase intention generated by the high-attractive endorser with low match-up would be higher than that generated by low-attractive endorser with high match-up. Originality/value - This research demonstrates that endorsers' attractiveness, even compared to match-up factor, and could affect consumers' purchase intention more significantly in China sport market. Practically speaking, the result suggests the companies which are related to sports should try their best to choose a highly attractive athlete endorser with outstanding performance and good morality in order to increase consumers' purchase intention. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.